Bainbridge Island is an island in Puget Sound, and is an incorporated city located in Kitsap County, Washington. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 20,308.
In July of 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine named Bainbridge Island the second-best place to live in the United States. It is locally known for its affluence, natural beauty, political progressivism, and high proportion of architects and lawyers with jobs in downtown Seattle.
Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Bainbridge Island ranks 24th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. It is also the highest rank achieved in Kitsap County.
Bainbridge Island is located at 47°39'19"N, 122°32'06"W (47.655260, -122.535083).
Bainbridge Island is located within the Central Puget Sound Basin, east of the Kitsap Peninsula and west of the City of Seattle. The Island is approximately five miles wide and ten miles long, encompassing nearly 17,778 acres, or 28 square miles (73 km2), and is one of the larger islands in Puget Sound.
Bainbridge Island shorelines border the main body of Puget Sound, a large protected embayment, Port Orchard Bay, and two high-current passages, Rich Passage and Agate Passage. The island is characterized by an irregular coastline of approximately 53 miles, with numerous bays and inlets and a significant diversity of other coastal land forms, including spits, bluffs, dunes, lagoons, cuspate forelands, tombolos, tide flats, stream and tidal deltas, islands, and rocky outcrops.
On the Kitsap Peninsula, Bremerton and Poulsbo lie across the Port Orchard channel to the west, and the city of Port Orchard lies across Rich Passage to the south.
The island is quite hilly, and is known for its popular Chilly Hilly bicycle ride held every year in February. This ride has been the unofficial start to the bicycling season in the Pacific Northwest since 1992.
Bainbridge Island is connected to the Kitsap Peninsula by a bridge carrying WA-305 over Agate Passage, and to Colman Dock in Downtown Seattle by Washington State Ferries service from Winslow in Eagle Harbor.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Bainbridge Island has a total area of 169.7 km2 (65.5 mi2). 71.5 km2 (27.6 mi2) of it is land and 98.2 km2 (37.9 mi2) of it is water. The total area is 57.87% water.
As of the census of 2000, there are 20,308 people, 7,979 households, and 5,784 families residing in the city. The population density is 284.0/km2 (735.6/mi2). There are 8,517 housing units at an average density of 119.1/km2 (308.5/mi2). The racial makeup of the city is 92.88% White, 0.28% African American, 0.62% Native American, 2.40% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 2.96% from two or more races. 2.17% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 7,979 households out of which 36.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.1% are married couples living together, 7.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% are non-families. 22.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.52 and the average family size is 2.98.
In the city the population is spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 33.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 43 years. For every 100 females there are 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $70,110, and the median income for a family is $83,415. Males have a median income of $65,853 versus $42,051 for females. The per capita income for the city is $37,482. 4.4% of the population and 3.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 3.8% of those under the age of 18 and 3.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
In 1841, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes visited the island while surveying the Northwest. Lt. Wilkes named the island after Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the frigate Constitution in the War of 1812. Bainbridge Island was originally a center for the logging and shipbuilding industries. The island was known for huge and accessible cedars, which were especially in demand for ship's masts. The original county seat of Kitsap County was at Port Madison on the north end of the island. However, by the end of the 19th Century the island had been clear cut and the mills and shipyards slowly died off.
The city of Bainbridge Island has occupied the entire island since February 28, 1991, when the former City of Winslow (around 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2) of land on Eagle Harbor, incorporated August 23, 1947) annexed the rest of the island. Bainbridge Island's claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of the sport of pickleball, as well as having the distinctions of sending the first Japanese-Americans to internment camps in World War II and enjoying the highest rate of return among the internees. Since the 1960s, Bainbridge Island has become a bedroom community of Seattle, a 35-minute ride away on the Washington State Ferries.
Source:
BainbridgeIslandWashington.com
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